Harbor narrows planning firms

The Crescent City Harbor District is inching closer to developing its long needed master plan.

With help from Crescent City City Manager Dave Wells and Del Norte County Planner Ernie Perry, harbor officials sorted through proposals from three companies vying for the job to draft the plan.

The committee settled on the two most expensive proposals.

"We're looking for a plan that won't be sitting on a shelf somewhere, one that will lay out a plan and show the steps on how to implement it," said harbor Chief Executive Officer Rich Taylor.

Of the three proposals that came in, the least expensive was $85,000. Taylor said the committee made up of Wells, Perry, harbor commissioners Dan Kirkpatrick and John Yingst decided that proposal was not complete.

Taylor added that the two more expensive proposals at $141,000 and $271,000 were not only very comprehensive, but included ways to get grants to pay them.

"It was pretty much unanimous to go with the two larger amounts and bring them in for an interview," Taylor said.

Both firms, the most expensive one from San Luis Obispo, the other from Irvine, will be invited to interviews on Feb. 26.

Once chosen, the firm will get to work applying for grants to help the harbor pay for the process.

Having a master plan is crucial for the guidance of the harbor's future development.

It will not only suggest specific uses for specific sections of the harbor taking into account the local economy, it will show potential developers and funding agents that the harbor is ready for the future.

Currently, Crescent City's Harbor District is working from a plan that was developed in the 1970s and was most recently amended and adopted in 1986.

A second plan was drafted in 1996 and apparently was later adopted, but disatisfaction with the document caused harbor officials to ignore it, and its provisions were never adopted.